Posted on June 2, 2026 by Megan Hawley, Thuy Pham and Anna Guerrero 4

Low Rise Housing | Targeted Assessment Pathway and Complying Development Variations

The NSW Government has taken the next step towards what it says will facilitate faster housing delivery by releasing two key papers for public consultation to provide for streamlined low-rise housing development assessments. Consultation both papers (linked at the bottom of the article) closes at 5pm on 24 June 2026.

Currently, under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act), a proposed low rise housing development which is permissible with development consent can proceed either:

• by obtaining a complying development certificate (CDC) from a council or private certifier if the development is complying development, as prescribed in a State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) or local environmental plan if it meets all of the prescribed development standards; or
• by obtaining development consent by making a development application (DA) which requires a full assessment under s4.15 of the EPA Act.

The papers which have been released propose:

• prescribing low rise housing as targeted assessment development; and
• providing for ‘minor’ variations to the development standards for complying development.

Targeted Assessment Development

The targeted assessment pathway is established by Division 4.3A of the EPA Act. To date, however, no development has been prescribed as targeted assessment development (TAD). See our articles about the amendments to the EPA Act here and here.

Declaration of TAD

The TAD pathway only applies if a SEPP has declared the development or a class of development to be TAD. The SEPP can also specify criteria that that development or class of development must meet to be TAD.

The Low Rise Housing Reforms and Targeted Assessment Discission Paper, dated May 2026  proposes a new SEPP dealing with housing which will amalgamate the 8 existing housing codes under the State Environmental Planning (Exempt and Complying Development) Policy 2008 (Codes SEPP) and provisions in the State Environmental Planning (Housing) Policy 2021 dealing with low rise housing. The new SEPP is proposed to contain a statewide ‘single low rise housing code’.

The statewide code in the new SEPP is proposed to declare certain low rise housing as TAD.

Development Standards to replace LEPs and DCPs

It is also proposed that the statewide code would create consistent development standards for TAD which would operate as non-discretionary standards.

The non-discretionary standards are proposed to replace many provisions in local environmental plans and development control plans prepared by councils, to provide for consistency across the state.

If a TAD complies with a non-discretionary development standard, the consent authority cannot take the standard into further consideration in determining the DA.

If a non-discretionary development standard is not met, the non-compliance will be assessed on merit against the objectives of those standards.

Assessment of TAD DAs

As noted in our previous articles linked above, the EPA Act has been amended so that certain parts of s4.15 of the EPA Act do not apply to a merit assessment of TAD. For TAD, an assessment cannot consider the likely significant impacts of the development, site suitability, or the public intertest (although public submissions are still a relevant consideration).

This leaves the provisions of relevant planning instruments and development control plans as relevant matters for consideration., along with the public submissions. If a new SEPP overrides local controls and contains non discretionary standards, then the extent of merit assessment of TAD could be quite limited.

Presumably this is the basis upon which the NSW Government suggests that DAs following the TAD pathway are expected to be determined within 50 days, whereas the average time for assessment of a DA is currently 100 days.

The discussion paper seeks feedback on whether proposed developments in hazard affected land, heritage-listed land, and conservation zones should be eligible for the TAD pathway.

Implementation Phases

The discussion paper proposes that the first stage of the implementation of the TAD pathway for low rise housing will cover dual occupancies, manor houses and multi-dwelling housing on residentially zoned land before applying to other forms of low-rise housing or developments in other zones.

Feedback on the discussion paper can be provided via the Planning Portal and closes on 24 June 2026 . The feedback on the discussion paper is to will inform any future Explanation of Intended Effect, which section 4.20A(3) of the EPA Act requires to be published before any SEPP can be made declaring development to be TAD.

Complying Development Variations

The second proposed reform relates to the ability to apply for a variation of the development standards which development is required to meet in order to be considered to be ‘complying development’ for which a CDC can be issued.

Currently, to be complying development, a development must fully comply with all prescribed standards for that type of development—any deviation, no matter how minor, takes the proposed development out of the complying development pathway with the consequence that a DA and full assessment under s4.15 of the EPA Act is required.

The 2025 amendments to the EPA Act included a new section 4.31A of the EPA Act (which has not yet commenced operation), that provides for an applicant to apply for a certificate varying a development standard that is otherwise required to be met for a development to be complying development, to enable the development to stay in the complying development pathway. Section s4.31A provides that an environmental planning instrument may specify the development standards that may be varied by a variation certificate.

The ‘Variations and changes to complying development Explanation of Intended Effect‘ (EIE) proposes changes to the Codes SEPP and the Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulation 2021 in respect of complying development variations for low rise housing developments.

The EIE proposes that the development standards that may be the subject of a variation certificate will be those relating to setbacks, building height, gross floor area, articulation zones, swimming pool locations, privacy screens, vehicle access, tree protection, habitable windows, and certain dual occupancy requirements.

The EIE specifies the extent of the variation that is permitted (for example, up to 10% increase in GFA, or building height to be varied to up to 9m for dwellings, dual occupancies and manor homes).

It is proposed that no more than 3 or 4 development standards may be varied for any single development.

An application for a variation certificate must be made to the relevant local council and must be accompanied by a justification of the variation and other prescribed information.  A certifier cannot issue a variation certificate. The variation certificate can be sought at the same time as the application for the CDC is made, or otherwise it can be applied for after the CDC application is lodged (even if with a private certifier).

A council must determine the variation application within 10 days (if referred by a certifier), or 20 days, if the CDC application was made to council. If those timeframes are not met, the variation is deemed to have been approved.

The EIE seeks public feedback (by 24 June 2026) on some key issues including:

• How can the currently proposed process for assessing an application for a variation certificate be improved?
• What other complying development standards should be able to be varied?
• How can complying development standards be varied?
• What is the maximum number of standards that can be varied for one development?
• Is the 10-20 business days timeframe for a decision on the variation achievable?

Other Changes to the Codes SEPP

Several proposed amendments to the Codes SEPP are also proposed as part of the EIE, including:

• expanding low-impact remedial works as complying development,
• expanding complying development on bushfire and flood control lots where appropriate,
• changes to setbacks for complying development – including primary road setbacks and internal separation between two detached dual occupancies,
• expanding complying development for sloping sites, modern designs and garages,
• simplifying balcony and privacy screen requirements, and
• permitting above-ground rainwater tanks closer to the lot side boundary.

The Discussion Paper and EIE can be found at the following links:

• Low-rise housing and targeted assessment discussion paper;
• Variations and changes to complying development: explanation of intended effect.

If you have any questions regarding this article, please contact Megan Hawley on 02 8235 9703, Thuy Pham on (02) 8235  9731 or Anna Guerrero on (02) 8235 9739